Averting Catastrophes: The Strange Economics of Scylla and Charybdis
Faced with numerous potential catastrophes--nuclear and bioterrorism, mega-viruses, climate change, and others--which should society attempt to avert? A policy to avert one catastrophe considered in isolation might be evaluated in cost-benefit terms. But because society faces multiple catastrophes,...
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Economic Association
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/109147 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8296-9875 |
| _version_ | 1826193503319752704 |
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| author | Martin, Ian W. R. Pindyck, Robert S |
| author2 | Sloan School of Management |
| author_facet | Sloan School of Management Martin, Ian W. R. Pindyck, Robert S |
| author_sort | Martin, Ian W. R. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Faced with numerous potential catastrophes--nuclear and bioterrorism, mega-viruses, climate change, and others--which should society attempt to avert? A policy to avert one catastrophe considered in isolation might be evaluated in cost-benefit terms. But because society faces multiple catastrophes, simple cost-benefit analysis fails: even if the benefit of averting each one exceeds the cost, we should not necessarily avert them all. We explore the policy interdependence of catastrophic events, and develop a rule for determining which catastrophes should be averted and which should not. (JEL D61, Q51, Q54) |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:40:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/109147 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:40:12Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | American Economic Association |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1091472022-09-30T16:06:31Z Averting Catastrophes: The Strange Economics of Scylla and Charybdis Martin, Ian W. R. Pindyck, Robert S Sloan School of Management Pindyck, Robert S Faced with numerous potential catastrophes--nuclear and bioterrorism, mega-viruses, climate change, and others--which should society attempt to avert? A policy to avert one catastrophe considered in isolation might be evaluated in cost-benefit terms. But because society faces multiple catastrophes, simple cost-benefit analysis fails: even if the benefit of averting each one exceeds the cost, we should not necessarily avert them all. We explore the policy interdependence of catastrophic events, and develop a rule for determining which catastrophes should be averted and which should not. (JEL D61, Q51, Q54) 2017-05-17T19:28:47Z 2017-05-17T19:28:47Z 2015-10 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0002-8282 1944-7981 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/109147 Martin, Ian W. R. and Pindyck, Robert S. “Averting Catastrophes: The Strange Economics of Scylla and Charybdis.” American Economic Review 105, no. 10 (October 2015): 2947–2985. © 2015 American Economic Association https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8296-9875 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.20140806 American Economic Review Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Economic Association American Economic Association |
| spellingShingle | Martin, Ian W. R. Pindyck, Robert S Averting Catastrophes: The Strange Economics of Scylla and Charybdis |
| title | Averting Catastrophes: The Strange Economics of Scylla and Charybdis |
| title_full | Averting Catastrophes: The Strange Economics of Scylla and Charybdis |
| title_fullStr | Averting Catastrophes: The Strange Economics of Scylla and Charybdis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Averting Catastrophes: The Strange Economics of Scylla and Charybdis |
| title_short | Averting Catastrophes: The Strange Economics of Scylla and Charybdis |
| title_sort | averting catastrophes the strange economics of scylla and charybdis |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/109147 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8296-9875 |
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